


Bucket List

by 27dragons



Series: 27dragons' Tony Stark Bingo [8]
Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game)
Genre: Bittersweet, Graduation, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-20 20:06:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18131465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27dragons/pseuds/27dragons
Summary: Avengers Academy is closing its doors, but before it does, Tony has a whole list of things to do and people to say goodbye to. But somehow, he can’t seem to cross the most important item off the list.(Tony Stark Bingo fill for square T3 - Avengers Academy)





	Bucket List

Tony stormed into Fury’s office without bothering to knock. “What the hell is this?” Tony brandished a piece of paper.

“Damn it, Stark!” Maria Hill practically stumbled into the room after him, then snapped to attention. “Sorry, sir. I don’t know how he got past me. I won’t let you down again!”

Fury didn’t look up from the files he was reading. “It’s fine, Hill, I’ll deal with it. Dismissed.”

“Sir!” Maria didn’t quite snap her heels together and salute, but Tony was willing to bet it was a near thing.

“Well?” he demanded as Maria’s footsteps receded.

“You’re a genius, Stark,” Fury drawled. “I’m fairly certain you know how to read.”

“Oh, ha, very funny.” Tony flopped down into the empty chair. “You know what I mean. You can’t seriously be planning to close the school!”

Fury closed the file and placed it carefully on his desk, then finally looked up at Tony. “I assure you, I can.”

“But...”

“Go talk to Doctor Pym,” Fury suggested. “This universe is collapsing in on itself. The only way to save it is to close the school and send you all out into the multiverse.”

“But...”

“Now, if that will be all, Mr. Stark, I trust you can see yourself out.”

“But there are so many things I still need to _do_.”

Fury gave him a supremely unimpressed look. “Then I suggest you get started.”

***

Tony dropped into the hot tub with a groan of relief. “Who knew getting ready for graduation was so much _work?_ ” he complained.

“I hear that.” Jan opened one eye but didn’t sit up from where she was lounging, head tipped back against the side of the tub. “How’s the list coming along?”

Tony flicked his fingers and a holoscreen opened just over the surface of the water. “Let’s see... Interdimensional group chat is _almost_ done; I just have to figure out how to keep it from dropping people while they’re between dimensions. I have a couple of ideas. Strange, Shuri, Moon Girl, and I are getting together tonight to test them out and see which one works best.”

Jan pouted at him. “You’re giving Strange an account before _me_?”

“You can’t travel interdimensionally without help,” Tony pointed out. “I’m sure you’ll have more followers than anyone else combined within the first hour.”

“Too right I will,” Jan agreed. “What else?”

“I finished some last-minute upgrades on the robots, since it’ll be a while before I can come back to boost ‘em again. Also made sure all the armors have the latest upgrades and features.”

“Even Tippy’s?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Of course, even Tippy’s. You don’t think I’d let Squirrel Girl down, do you?” He scrolled through the list some more. “Packed up my favorite books from the library -- I was the only one who ever checked them out, anyway. Upgraded your traveling wardrobe so it’ll fit all your stuff.”

“Ooh, you’re just the best!” Jan flung her arms around Tony in a hug. “But that’s all _work_ and _tech_. What about all the _personal_ stuff?”

“Oh, I’ve done a bunch of that, too. Riri and I did some of those upgrades together. I gave Pepper a necklace with a strawberry on it to remember me by. I sweet-talked Natasha into showing me her disappearing box trick -- that’ll come in handy. I knew she actually liked me, deep down. And Cap and I went over to the club last night for a couple of drinks and sorted out our differences. Had a nice long chat with Peggy, too, about Dad.” That had been pretty nice, actually. “I set her and Bucky 1.0 up with the time-travel portal, in case they decide to go back.”

“Oh! Galina was looking for you earlier.”

“Yeah, she found me. I tried to let her down easy.” Tony scrubbed a hand over his hair. Of all the women at Avengers Academy that Tony had tried to date, the Crimson Dynamo was not one of them. Something about her relentless pursuit of _him_ was unnerving. “I’m not sure she’s convinced, but she and Whiplash already have some dimension in mind they want to go to, so maybe she’ll refocus.”

“Maybe,” Jan said doubtfully. “Who else?”

Tony flipped his screen. “Did a last round of body shots with Union Jack -- that was after Cap and I talked, don’t worry. Let Clint beat me at pool one last time. Tried to talk to Loki, but he just rolled his eyes at me. Held a wrap-up session of the D&D game, then beta-read Kamala’s latest fanfic -- it’s _super_ cute, you’re going to love it -- and raced Sam around the grounds a couple of times.” He closed the list, willing himself not to see the one name that _hadn’t_ been checked off. “So I’m pretty much done with all that, too.”

Jan gave him a sharp look. “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Tony said, and quickly added, “How’s the graduation party planning going?”

Jan sat up to glare at him more effectively. “Have you talked to the Winter Soldier even _once_ since Graduation Day was announced?”

Tony couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “I mean... I went to the farewell concert at Club Galaxy last week,” he hedged. “He played a solo.” It had been the most moving song of the night, sad but hopeful, and there hadn’t been a dry eye in the audience when it was finished. Except maybe MODOK’s, because MODOK had no appreciation for good music.

He just hadn’t been able to bring himself to say goodbye to Bucky.

“Anthony Edward Stark, are you seriously telling me that you’re okay with us graduating and all going our separate ways, possibly to _never see each other again_ , before you’ve told him how you feel?!”

Tony winced. Jan was a little screechy when she got emotional. “No, but--”

“Go!” Jan pointed imperiously toward the door that led back into Stark Tower. “And don’t come back until you’ve _talked to him!_ ”

“It’s my building,” Tony protested weakly, but he was already moving, snagging a towel from the heated rack by the door and wrapping it around his hips.

***

Tony finally tracked Bucky down at the dorm, working the heavy bag. Tony paused in the doorway for a long minute, just watching. The bag had been built to withstand superstrength, but Bucky was really putting it through its paces.

“I know you’re there,” Bucky said, between jabs. “Might as well come out where I can see you.”

Tony braced himself and went to stand by the bag.

Bucky’s eyes widened, and he dropped his hands. “Oh. I thought you were Steve.”

“Sorry,” Tony said. “Just me.”

“No need to be sorry,” Bucky said. “I’m, uh, I’m glad you came.” He left the bag and scooped up a towel, mopping his face and neck before starting to unwind the wrapping on his right hand. Tony watched, mesmerized, until Bucky prompted, “Was there something you wanted?”

“Oh! Um. I mean, I’ve been going around saying goodbye to everyone,” Tony said. He fished a laminated card out of his jacket pocket and held it out. “When you get... wherever you’re going, that’s the instructions to connect to the interdimensional chat, so you can stay in touch with... you know, whoever you want to.”

Bucky took the card and scrutinized it for a moment, then nodded and tucked it into his omnipresent guitar case. “Thanks.”

Nothing else seemed to be forthcoming.

Tony bit his lip. “Have you... Do you know where you’re going?”

Bucky shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Nowhere else could compare.”

“Well, that’s true. I just, I thought you might be going with Cap.”

Bucky shook his head. “Steve will always hold a special place in my heart, but that part of my life is over. Best to leave the past in the past.” His eyes took on that dreamy cast that meant he was composing new lyrics.

“I guess I’ll just...” Tony took a step back, reluctantly.

“Tony.”

“Yeah?”

“Where are you going?”

“Me? Oh, Professor Pym found a dimension that doesn’t have a version of me. I mean, they _did_ , but he died. So they could probably use me, you know?” He’d been trying not to think about it too much. What if whatever killed his counterpart was too much for him? He wouldn’t have his fellow students at his back anymore.

“I wouldn’t want to live in a dimension that doesn’t have you in it,” Bucky said solemnly.

The world seemed to tip on its axis. “You... wouldn’t?”

Bucky shook his head. “Do you...” Tony waited, but he didn’t finish the question, just stared out over the campus grounds.

Tony followed his line of sight, and spotted Stark Tower gleaming in the rays of the setting sun. They didn’t have much time left. Tonight, Tony would wrap up the last details on the chat app and make sure everyone got the sign-in instructions to take with them. Tomorrow, Jan’s graduation party would kick off, and it would run the entire time Professor Pym was setting the portals and sending the students to their new destinations. Jan had borrowed a couple dozen Iron Legion robots to keep it from seeming too empty for the last few, and she’d gotten Maria Hill -- the only one staying behind -- to promise that it wouldn’t all shut it down until after the last of them had departed.

“I wouldn’t want to live in a dimension without you, either,” Tony said, before he could lose his nerve for the thousandth time.

Bucky’s clear grey eyes liquid in the golden glow of the approaching evening. Did they look... hopeful?

Tony made himself meet those eyes. “Professor Pym didn’t say if there was a Bucky, where I’m going, but... You want to come with me? That way, we’d know we wouldn’t have to be...”

“We wouldn’t have to be alone,” Bucky finished. He reached up, the metal thumb brushing lightly over Tony’s cheekbone, then tracing the shape of Tony’s lips. “Yes. I’d... I’d like that.”

Tony drew a shaky breath. In his peripheral vision, Devil Dinosaur was stomping up to Stark Tower, which meant Moon Girl had arrived, and probably the others, as well. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from Bucky. “I have to... I have stuff I need to do tonight,” Tony said reluctantly. “And you probably have some goodbyes you need to say.”

“Yes,” Bucky said, though he made no move to go, or even look away.

“I’ll find you at the party,” Tony promised. He hesitated, then stretched up and kissed Bucky softly on the mouth. “Don’t go anywhere without me.”

“I won’t,” Bucky promised. “Not ever again.”

**Author's Note:**

> As of this posting, it's been nearly 6 weeks since AvAc closed their doors. I'm still not over it. (I still haven't deleted the app off my phone, either...) But I had to give them at least a little bit of a hopeful ending.


End file.
